This little reef lies just below
Mossy Rocks Cove near
Nepris about a stral
off the eastern coast of the Santharian province of
Manthria. It got its name from the local daring
fishing youth, who would make it a game to sail their
ducraers between the two main clusters of
rock in order to prove themselves and test their own daring. It has expanded
and has become the entertainment site for most of the youth living on the
nearby coastline. Those who were able to weave their way through the passage in
a ducraer or other small boat would later
boast of "Threading the Needle" - and so it became known to merchants, traders,
and sailors along the Mithral Coast.

Picture description. This archway and the surrounding
stone have inspired small stories pertaining to the possiblility of a secret
message being revealed if one has the nerve to sail through the arch. Image drawn by
Lindo Tso.

Description. There
are two land masses that define the ‘boundaries’ so to speak, of the area known
as the Needle’s Eye. The term “Threading the Needle” refers to the fairly
dangerous passage in between a group of three enormous boulders and a smaller
mountain. The size of the boulders is indeed rather astonishing, and the
variety in the materials that make up these massive rocks is equally as
remarkable. Instead of being one solid colour, the slate and other minerals
combine to form a beautiful collection of colour that is pleasing to the eye.
During summer rains when breaks of sun
frequently occur, the shine caused from the light bouncing off the wet, glossy
surface creates a beautiful, rainbow-like image.
Quartz crystals including both
the rare indiquartz and turquartz create a whirlwind of colour with the greens
and other hues. They tower above passing ships, the middle one standing almost
100 peds high. They are
almost touching at the base, and the northernmost and southernmost ones lean on
the middle boulder. Nothing seaworthy would be able to fit through the small
gapes between them. Needless to say, stories about how these monstrous rocks
arrived here run rampant.

On the eastern side of the Needle’s Eye, about fifty
peds away from the
boulders, an even taller mountain juts out of the
water and blocks the passage from the high
surf. New visitors to the Eye always do notice one thing; the top, about thirty
peds in diameter, is
completely flat. From a distance, the picture looks almost as if someone had
taken a knife and simply cut it off. But in contrast to the rather beautiful
three boulders on the western side, this piece of land is rather unremarkable
other than this. It is actually rather large, and small trails and even an
underground passageway exist through the mountain. Often,
Avennorian youths use the very
small beach on the southern side to beach their ducraers
and explore. While this is certainly nowhere close enough to be considered an
inhabitable island, there is a small hut with minor boat repair necessities and
provisions that visiting youth worked together to procure and bring to the
island over the years. In contrast to the ominous
Dead Fisherman’s Grotto farther north
in the Adanian Sea, this cavern and area is at least interesting and
adventurous rather than grim and deadly. While the mountain has long since been
searched thoroughly for anything of value, the younger people who visit always
find it exciting to search in the tunnel and around the eye for buried
treasure. Today, one can often find evidence of pirate games and treasure hunts
in freshly dug mounds of dirt, where they have hidden small trinkets and
childhood toys.

While the distance between the main bodies is rather large, the passage between
the two that is actually sailable is small; dangerously so. Running from north
to south, the Eye is, at first glance, a wide and easily sailable area; there
are almost fifty peds of
waters separating the two landmasses.
Looking closely though, sharp outcroppings, coral, and large, jutting pieces of
rocky outcroppings exist almost twenty
peds out from each side of
the Eye. Even in the ten-ped
wide middle area, where there are fewer obstacles, pillars of stoning reaching
from the sea floor prevent anything but ships with a rather shallow draft to
pass. Merchant ships are entirely out of the question, and only ducraers
and other small boats with a capacity of no more than three or four people risk
passing through. At some points, there is not even a full ten
peds, (closer to five or
six) between clusters of dangerous rocks on each side of someone attempting to
pass through. In total, the Eye is about 150
peds in length after
“threading” your way through the entire thing.

But besides the dangerous outcroppings, the ocean below the surface is
conglomeration of colour. Coral of every shape and size form an unbelievable
undersea forest that is abundant with sea creatures. This is no deeper than
eight or ten peds at any
point, and usually considerably shallower. Of course, when you leave the
shelter Eye the depth drops off almost cliff-like very quickly. But unless one
is swimming, the chief dangers are that either the boat will be broken by the
rocky bottom, or will be crashed by a particularly large wave against the
massive boulders.

Close to the northern entrance to the passage there exists a small archway. It
is in total no more than five or seven
peds in height above the
water, but rests on a flat rock that serves
as a platform. This is barely wide enough to allow a ducraer
to pass, and the water is deeper than a
couple of handspans between
the surface and the rocky platform. Surrounding this are rocks and boulders
that break the surface of the water and
surround the archway in a garden of stone. On the northernmost side of this
arch is a fairly sheer wall of rock slightly higher than the top of the
archway. Sailing in this area is paticularly dangerous, and is highly risky
because of the high probability of damage to one's craft on the rocks.

Location. This famous
fishing and sailing site can be found just off the Mithral Coast, southwest of Mossy Rocks Cove
in the Santharian
province of Manthria.
The Needle’s Eye is solely accessible from
Nepris and other
small settlements along the Mithral Coast Route. In total the Eye is about a
stral of the coast in the
Adanian Sea.

People. The Needle’s
Eye is almost always populated by a group of fishermen youth and rebellious
teens during the summer months. Sometimes, they are accompanied by younger
siblings who enjoy playing on the mountain or swimming, but it is only the older
ones who make the dangerous passage through the Eye. This trend was only broken
during the brief period where traveling to the passage was outlawed after the
famous shark attack of 1200. To this day, the summer tradition of spending hot
days frolicking on the small mountainside or swimming in the contained area
right off the small beach is a common practice. The young adults take turns
timing each other as they pass through the Eye, seeing how long it takes them to
make the trip. When the fathers of these children return from merchant trips
(one of the most common employments in
Nepris), it has
become custom for the vessel to lower anchor near it, so that these newly
returned parents can visit their sons and daughters.

Due to the abundance of fish and other sea creatures, villagers commonly venture
at dusk or dawn and fish within the area. This is a profitable use of time, and
besides providing food for the family, it is rather lucrative side job.

The flat top of the mountain on the eastern side is also a common place for
marriage proposals. The tradition of proposing on this spot has been passed on
from father to son in the area almost since it became more widely known about
640 years ago from today. The moonlight and view of the apparently never ending
coastline create a romantic setting when it isn't foggy. To the constant
annoyance of fishermen and these people, a group of mixed-gender older youth is
very common here. In an attempt to escape the watchful eyes of their parents and
spend some time with each other, young men and women often come here later at
night. The Eye has a reputation as a refuge for youth who are sick and tired of
their home or parents. Because of the lack of protection from the powerful waves
and the tight corners, the rocks surrounding the archway provide a challenging
maze that the daring fishing youth often attempt to navigate through as well.
Stories have sprang up that suggest that a secret pattern is revealed within the
maze of boulders surrounding the archway, only when one has the daring to make
the passage through and navigate the dangerous outcroppings of rock.

Another rather repetitive event is the debate surrounding the Eye that always
ensues between parents and their grown up children. When a child receives a
ducraer for the first time, the request on his or her lips seems always to
surround a visit to this exciting site. Everyone new to parenthood is always a
little nervous about this. Remembering the daring runs of their own childhood,
they are always loath to allow their children the same freedom, realizing how
dangerous what they were doing actually was. Eventually this argument is, almost
without fail, won by these young fishermen.

Climate. The weather
around the Needle’s Eye is similar to that along most of the Mithral Coast.
Luckily for people near or in the Eye, the strong sea breeze can make the
characteristically hot summer days cooler. On the other hand, except for the
rocks, the open ocean leaves you very exposed to the
sun and on a day with few clouds, it can
still be swelteringly hot. Most children who take out their ducraers
on such a day are known to take a swim within the enclosed area between the
large rocks that form the Needle’s Eye. Swells are a common occurrence in the
Adanian Sea, but the enormous rocks on the lee side partially protect the
sailable part from the rough waves and heavy surf that batter the coastline. In
the spring, children await the letting up of the rain; the signal that the
season of Needle’s Eye visits is upon them. Nevertheless, a heavy fog can be
found here often, like everywhere else along the Mithral coast line.

Flora. Looking down into
the water as you sail through the gap shows
you an amazingly colourful picture, full of coral as deep as the eye can see.
Some of this is worth harvesting, and those who pass through in a ducraer
can, perhaps, reach into the water to grab
the yellow flysh seaweed, which, though salty and slightly sour, is actually
crunchy and satiating. On very clear mornings when the
water is less disturbed, you can see
peds deep, allowing glimpses
of sea fans, and forests of tall seagrass. Other than small clusterings of
bombox palms on the shoreline,
nothing grows on the barriers forming the Eye. Sometimes, the kids playing
within the Eye play with the seeds, having fun with the loud cracking noise they
make when opened. They also dare each other to eat as much of the sour pulp as
they can.

Fauna. During the summer
days when the passage is frequented by villagers and children, the undersea life
is usually very quiet. Small recesses on the undersea mountainside hold hordes
of small fish and even more remarkable sea creatures that make their home near
the vast coral forest. When villagers are doing serious fishing in the area,
they often attempt to catch boneheads.
While these fish are usually rather large, even more incredible sizes have been
found in this area. The record fish caught was a
bonehead ranking at almost three
peds. More common than
boneheads are
evoor, though these have very little use in
Nepris besides lamp
oil, as they taste terrible.

Mythology. Many
centuries before Santhros ascended the
throne, the first settlers came to the shores which lie in the east of the
Mithral Mountains. The special riches the
sea near the Mossy Rock Cove offered them,
the pearls, had persuaded many to try their
luck. And so, on the basis of hundreds of schemes to get rich quickly, the
villages of Phris and Nehlan were founded. The avid divers found plenty of
oysters and nearly each of them contained a
pearl. But after some time of intensive
harvesting few and fewer oysters with
pearls were found. - How could that be? Nobody knows today who first told the
story of how the pearls-filled
oysters slowly disappeared but still today
the following tale is told to the children living on the shores of North Eastern
Manthria:

The Pearl Robber. Long ago, when
no human foot had walked the shores east
of the Mithral Mountains, there was a
profusion of oysters along the whole
coast, from the mouth of the Mashdai river up to the Snipe Head's Bay, and
nearly every one contained a pearl.
Baveras loved that stretch of coast because of the beautiful
pearls, and it is said that at that
time there was an abundance of
waterstars flowering there. However, one day a creature appeared at
these shores that loved the oysters
almost as much as Baveras did. But
not to admire their sparkling shells and remove a
pearl cautiously and softly, as only
the Sea Goddess could do, without
harming the oyster, no. Hunger, not
admiration, was the creature’s motive for love of the
oysters; he simply ate them, one
after the other.

No one can tell for sure what this creature looked like. Some say, it was
an enormous sea-giant who normally lived in the depth of the Adanian Sea,
while others say it was a monstrous
kraken, as big as a mountain and ferocious as no other living
creature. Baveras was furious, but
this creature was coming from the sea itself and could withstand the
Goddess of Water, leaving
Baveras with no direct way to stop
it. In her desperation she called out for help, for somebody who lived on
land and might have weapons other
than those she possessed. And so the call went out and was heard from one
of her devoted worshippers, the Baveras
Aid Jahatha the Wise. Jahatha was not just a Baveras Aid as we know them,
but a mighty sorceress as well. She took with her two friends, Fjrda the
Brave, an outstanding warrior and Sjvina the Sly, a gifted larcener.
Jahatha followed the divine plea of
Baveras to protect the coast where the most beautiful
pearls grew, near the area now known
as Nepris.

The three went out in small boats to meet the pearl-thief. But the
creature was sly and the three were unable to come close enough to do it
any harm. Every time they attempted to cut it off as it made its way
towards the shore, it would retreat back to the depths from whence it
came. Tired of waiting for it, Jahatha finally created a ring of rock
which she fastened to the ground so that the
pearl robber could be tied down once
he was close, unable to get away anymore. But first they needed him to
come within range of the ring. Now Syvina's time had come. The next time
the monster was seen, they all kept silent and so Sjvina managed to get
close to it and put her magically
enforced rope around his neck, enabling it to be tied to the ring of rock
Jahatha had created before. Now it was made to stay close in, and the true
fight began. It took long, Fjrda fought hard to fend off the many arms,
Sjvina kicked the giant in its stomach so that he vomited in one great
gulp all the pearls he had swallowed
before. They fell like a shower over the three women, sticking to their
clothes due to the liquids they had been stored in. Jahatha weaved charms
to protect her friends from the poisonous slime which dropped from the
monster.

Finally, with one great effort Fjrda cut off the head of the monster and a
gush of strange blood came out of it and covered the whole surrounding
including the three women.

From here on in, two ends to this story tell in different ways how the
landforms were actually created. One tells us that this strange blood
turned the three women into the boulders we see today, that we can still
see the pearls they were covered in
shining in the sun after a short shower
has hit them.

They protect the coast and the pearls
from the monster from the sea, though now that the monster was
decapitated, it turned into a small mountain through its own blood and
tied to the arch we can see to the north.

However, not all believe that the three women found their death there, but
that Jahatha turned the blood through her
magic to stone and that she formed the three boulders, representing
the three who finally stopped the monster, out of the collection of
pearls, in order to protect the shore
from any future thief coming out of the depths of the sea.

What Jahatha had not anticipated was that the robbers who would later
bereave Baveras of her beloved
pearls would come from the land. Not
long after our ancestors came the store of
oysters to be found carrying
pearls dwindled and disappeared.
Baveras retreated from this place - not many waterstars are found here
around anymore. But she is still angry and rages against the North Eastern
coast with many storms, so that no large boats can be used to harvest her
other riches. To this day, the three stones stand not only symbolizing a
glorious fight in the past, but acting as a reminder to not forage the
goods Baveras provides us with.

Myth/Lore. The
fishermen youth and older, superstitious sailors from the coast believe that
those who successfully sail the route through the maze of stones and around the
archway at the north end of the passage, and then look down upon the stones from
the magnificent flat-topped mountain see a hidden secret, visible only to them.
How they actually glean the information is never told. Nevertheless, some say
the stones tell the reader’s future, while those well versed in the mythology of
the creation of the Needle's Eye believe it to be a message from
Baveras, revealing the truth of how those
living on the coast lost her favour.

History. Shortly after
the development of the ducraer
around 500 b.S., a record of the Needle’s Eye was found in the papers of the
original builder, Ducras. Aside from developing this now-standardized fishing
boat, he commonly explored and recorded a large amount of information on the
Mithral Coast. While kept and constantly updated by the crew in his shipyard, it
was partially destroyed in the same group of storms that wiped out the building.
To the best of the knowledge of the
Compendium based upon the records, the Eye was most likely discovered
sometime around 550.

The area was not frequented by children until much later however, around 1025,
after the storms that battered the coastline almost destroyed the record of it,
and people were driven to read notes Ducras had written so long ago on the area.
This is not to say that fishermen did not visit the area, but “Threading the
Needle” and the use of leeside barrier as a playground were not heard of until
this time.

Around 1200 a.S., an event occurred that put the future of visits to the
Needle’s Eye for the next generation in jeopardy. When the grandson of one of
the elder fishermen of Nepris was killed by a shark
that had come into the area, the elders of the village voted to ban visits to
the Eye until the situation was resolved. It took many months of hunting for the
shark to finally be speared by the
Avennorians, but the event was one of much rejoicing on the part of the
children of the region. The shark was found to be of the
dark stryke variety, and because
these are almost never seen south of Glandor, this was considered to be some
sort of fluke, and the children were allowed to return to their fun.